Wiring lights q's

[mosupernak]

Hey guys it's my first time wiring up lights on my '96 4Runner and need some help. I got 3 sets of hella 500's and 2 backup floods.

The NEW plan is to have 3 circuits, all with lit safty switches, and all only hot when the headlights are on
(or ign/on dunno which yet):

1. (2) Hella 500's on the front bumper
2. (4) Hella 500's on my roof rack
3. (2) floods facing backwards on the roof rack

Here's the schematic I've dreamed up:

Sorry it's pretty rough best I could do at work. I don't know the Amps of the incuded relay and fuse for the Floods, but I'll check to make sure they're ok.

Anyone see flaws?

 

[Glorybigs]

Not mine but barrowed from another site, it's gtg

 

[mosupernak]

Thanks for the reply Glorybigs.

Is that for red/black wire the reverse light power for a third gen 4runner?

Any idea where that wire block is?

 

[ldivinag]

2 things:

1. buy the wiring schematics portion of the multi volume official toyota shop manual for your truck. when i bought mine a decade or so ago, the wiring diagram was under $20. the entire set was over $150, IIRC.

trust me... that is like gold.


2. if you ever swapped out the OEM radio for an aftermarket one and properly USED a third party wiring harness, that is the cheap and dirty way to tap onto the IGN ON, and a couple other trigger wires without actually hacking up the OEM wiring. plus for my 2nd gen, it makes accessing it rather easily...

 

[Glorybigs]

Thanks for the reply Glorybigs.

Is that for red/black wire the reverse light power for a third gen 4runner?

Any idea where that wire block is?

No, it is for 05+ Taco I belive. Just use a test light to find the wire, it only takes a few minutes.

For more answers try toyota120.com on where your reverse wire can be found.

 

[mosupernak]

Thanks guys

I have an aftermarket head unit so I'll use the ingition on from there.

Ill buy a test light to find the reverse light power.

Now I just need to know proper wire guage, if I can run (4) 35w hellas through one of there switches, and a little more on which relays to get.

 

[climber-420]

check Roosters thread on TTORA. Everything you could possibly want to know

 

[G100]

I was going to wire my reverse lights in the same way you want to with the on/auto/off positions. I just thought I would mention before you go through the work of installing the wiring for the auto position, for me the auto (lights going on when in reverse) is not really necessary. I have found that 90% of time your switch is going to be in the off position cause you really don't need your super reverse lights everyday, but when you do need them you just turn them on, do your manuvering, and then turn them off. Just something to think about, how much would you really use the auto setting.
Also I have found that it is nice to have the lights wired so that the key doesn't need to be in the ignition for them to work, that way you can just turn them on when you are setting up camp or just need some light when working around your car and you don't have to worry about where your keys are.

Just my $00.02, wouldn't want you to do a bunch of unnecessary work.

 

[alexrex20]

Thanks guys

I have an aftermarket head unit so I'll use the ingition on from there.

Ill buy a test light to find the reverse light power.

Now I just need to know proper wire guage, if I can run (4) 35w hellas through one of there switches, and a little more on which relays to get.

any 5-pin relay will work, and you can use light gauge wire from switch to relay because it won't see much current. (it's only drawing enough current to open close the relay.) the rest of the wiring should be enough to handle the wattage. Watts/Voltage=Amps so a wire with 35W going through it will only be pushing 3A draw. if you splice all the load into one wire, it will have to support 12A draw, so you'd want 14- or 12-gauge wiring at that point.

fine-strand 12-gauge is pretty flexible and of nominal diameter; it wouldn't hurt to wire it all up in this gauge. but 18-gauge should be fine for the switch.

of course, this is all playing it safe. i'm not going to say that 18ga wire can't handle 140W of power going through. i've run 220W through 18ga wire, and didn't melt anything. but that doesn't mean i (or you) should've done it.

 

[mosupernak]

Thanks alexrex20 and G100

I'll stick with 12 gauge for the wire and glad to hear the switches should hold up.

I am now second guessing three postion reverse lights switch, AND even have them all only work on with the key in.

I'm one of those people that constantly gets saved by the warning beep for your headlights being on as get out of the car. I'm just worried I'd accidenty hit the switchs in the daytime and kill my battery...

But maybe I'll just look into safty switches and save a some work and time.

Thanks again guys always good to get some other's insite.

 

[mosupernak]

Tempted for easier wiring I just bought 3 of these from amazon.com

New plan will be super easy, 3 circuits all just on/off.

These switches will nearly eliminate the chance of me leaving them on by accident, although I'll prob find a way to do so anyway.

And for the auto feature on the reverse lights, after some thought prob more trouble then it's worth. I'll stick to on/off for them too.

Now I just need to make a little panel for the switches some where. Possibly overhead or just in the dash.

And see if the LED's stay on all the time or just when switched on. Even if they do stay on I doubt 3 tiny led's will have any real power draw.

 

[alexrex20]

it's very easy to still use your 3-way switch. you have one circuit switched by hot voltage from the reverse lights, and the other circuit (the selectable one) powered by a circuit that's only hot in the IGN ON position.

the only way leaving it in the SELECTABLE ON position would drain your battery is if you feed it battery power direct from the battery. if you splice into some circuit that's only hot with IGN ON, then you don't have to worry about the lights.

you can even wire the relay for switched power to come from an IGN ON circuit. you don't have to use battery voltage for anything. just try not to splice into anything that returns a voltage drop or resistance to the ECU, like gauges, sensors, etc. in your in-cab fuse panel, there should be some accessory jacks for you to splice into; some will be always hot (battery voltage) and some will only be hot in IGN ON.

the LEDs should only light up when the switch is flipped to ON.

 

[mosupernak]

I'm getting my checklist filled for what I need to start the build.

I have:
3 sets of Hella 500's
1 set of backup floods (they gave me 2 sets by mistake dunno if I'll hook them up)
Almost all the wire, relays, switches, fuses, just need more wire

Still waiting:
on all my yakima gear for the light bar and fairing

And almost have my wiring schematic completed too. I'll submit a copy here for approval.

 

[2500ak]

Here's an option that eliminates the need for a 3-pole switch. Just use two diodes and run a hot feed from both the stock reverse lights, and from a switch to the 85 post on the relay. Switch can be powered by a switchable ignition source if you like.

This is basically the method used on chevy trucks to make the fog lights and the low beams stay on with the high beams.

When I put off-road lights on my mom and my sister's trucks they don't like to have the option of leaving them on. Say what you will, I've found it useful to have a manual override on my rigs.


If you have an in cab fuse block a fuse tap is a good option. Cheap, reversible, I always cut the end off and solder but it'll work just fine with a crimp connection.

Power for the lights (30 terminal on the relay) needs to come strait off the battery though.

I question how well hella 500's will do as backup lights. I use a set of them for moose lights, they work well to that end, but the beam pattern is pretty tight. Not that they won't be a bazillion times better than your stock ones.

Reverse lights need to be flood lights imo.

I actually prefer those little sealed beam ones to he hellas (in this case) because the beam pattern is a real flood pattern (and they are cheap), although they have terrible throw.

One of the sets I put on the Tahoe

 

[mosupernak]

My backups will be 55w floods. Thanks for your help and the pics, I think I've all but got my schematic done and will only have to tap one fuse.